1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an asset tracking system for tracking assets, for example, a vehicle, with an integrated topology that is configured minimize the complexity of the system by eliminating hardware duplication and sensing the ignition state of the vehicle which obviates the need to access the vehicle ignition switch circuit; the asset tracking system optionally including a loan obligation management system that is integrated with the asset recovery system which provides notifications of loan obligations for the asset upon which the loan obligation is based and can even disable the vehicle from a remote location.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various asset tracking systems are known in the art. Such asset tracking systems are typically used to track vehicles. Examples of such asset recovery systems that are used to track vehicles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,223,844; 5,418,537; 6,025,774; 6,240,365; 6,249,217; and 6,377,210, all hereby incorporated by reference. In addition OnStar1 in-vehicle security, communications, and diagnostics systems and LoJack2 vehicle recovery systems are also known which can locate and track the position of a vehicle and facilitate recovery of stolen vehicles. 1 OnStar is a registered trademark of General Motors Corporation2 LoJack is a registered trademark of LoJack Corporation
In general, such asset recovery systems 20 are generally configured as illustrated in FIG. 1 normally include four (4) relatively autonomous subsystems. The four (4) subsystems consist of an application subsystem 22, a communications subsystem 24, a global positioning system (GPS) subsystem 26 and a power and input/output (I/O) subsystem 28. One problem with known vehicle recovery systems relates to the level of duplication of hardware components among the subsystems 22, 24, 26 and 28. Such duplication increases the complexity and cost of such vehicle recovery systems as well as the size of the device.
More particularly, a block diagram of the Application Subsystem 22 is illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown, the Application Subsystem 22 includes a CPU (computer processing unit) 30, peripherals 32, random access memory (RAM), flash memory 36 for storing the main software application 40 and power source 38.
A block diagram of the GPS subsystem 26 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The GPS Subsystem 26 includes another CPU 42, peripherals 44, GPS Correlators 46, RAM 48, Flash Memory 50, Communications hardware 52 for communicating the GPS information to the Communications Subsystem 24, a GPS Antenna 52, a GPS RF Receiver 54 for receiving position information from GPS satellites (not shown), and LDO Regulators 56.
A low drop out (LDO) regulator is a linear voltage regulator that operates even when the input voltage barely exceeds the desired output voltage. Such LDO regulators are known to be used with systems that are driven by battery power sources, such as a vehicle.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the Communications Subsystem 24. The Communications Subsystem 24 includes a CPU 58, peripherals 60, a power amplifier 62, RAM 64, and Flash Memory 66, Communications hardware 68 for communicating with the GPS Subsystem 26, an antenna 70, an RF Transceiver 72 and LDO Regulators 74.
FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of the Power and I/O Subsystem 28. The Power and I/O Subsystem 28 includes power regulators 76, battery charger 80, ESD (Electrostatic discharge) and Surge Protection 84. The Power and I/O Subsystem 28 also includes software configured as I/O drivers 78, battery charge protection 82 and over-current protection 86 that is stored in the Application Subsystem Flash memory 36 (FIG. 2).
FIG. 6 illustrates the duplicated hardware and duplicated functionality that exists among the application subsystem 22, the communications subsystem 24, the GPS subsystem 26 and a power and I/O subsystem 28 in known asset tracking systems. In particular, the duplicated hardware and functionality includes:                Duplicated CPUs: The application subsystem 22, the GPS subsystem 26 and the communications subsystem 24 each have a single purpose CPU.        Duplicated Memory: The application subsystem 22, the GPS subsystem 26 and the communications subsystem 24 all have their own RAM and Flash memory devices for autonomous operation.        Duplicated Communication: The application subsystem 22, the GPS subsystem 26 and the communications subsystem 24 each have communication peripherals for state and data communication among them.        Duplicated Power Components: Multiple LDOs and regulators are required for autonomous power control.        
There are other problems associated with known asset recovery systems. For example, such asset recovery systems need the operational state of the ignition system to operate properly. In some vehicles, such as motorcycles, scooters, all terrain vehicles, and watercraft, access to the vehicle ignition system is either unavailable or inaccessible. As such, asset recovery systems are generally unavailable for such vehicles. Another problem with known asset recovery systems is a lack of optimization of system resources, for example, for loan obligation management.
Thus, there is a need to simplify such asset recovery systems which minimizes the complexity of the system and minimizes duplication of hardware components to reduce the cost of such systems and obviates the need to access the ignition circuit in order to make such asset recovery systems available for vehicles with inaccessible vehicle ignition systems and provide remote management of the asset with respect to its loan obligation.